Imagine you are on trial for a serious crime and that if convicted you will
be sentenced to serve time in a prison run by a for-profit corporation. (There
are such prisons in the United States (US).) Now, imagine that your lawyer, who
is supposed to represent your best interests, has had her continuing legal
education paid for by the same for-profit corporation that runs the prison. How
confident are you that your lawyer will actually represent your best interests?
This is essentially the situation that patients face when doctors have their
continuing medical education (CME) paid for by pharmaceutical companies. The
latest figures on company sponsorship give some cause for hope – in 2010 in the
US, industry funded 31% of CME compared to 48% in 2007 – but we should not feel
complacent about the situation. Industry continues to fund thousands of events
for doctors around the world. In Australia from April 1 to September 30, 2011
companies represented by Medicines Australia, the organization for the
brand-name industry, spent over $40 million (AUS) on 18,000 events attended by
423,000 people, primarily doctors, with over $18 million of the total going on
hospitality.